Doolittle, Thompson Named to Roger Clemens Award Watch ListVirginia is one of 13 schools with two pitchers on the preseason list.

Jacob Thompson

Dec. 7, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - -
Virginia junior first baseman/ left-handed pitcher Sean Doolittle (Tabernacle, N.J.) and sophomore right-handed pitcher Jacob Thompson (Danville, Va.) have been named to the preseason watch list for the fourth annual Roger Clemens Award, given to the nation's best pitcher. Sixty-two of the best pitchers in collegiate baseball are on the list.

Doolittle had another great season for the Cavaliers in 2006 as he went 11-2 on the mound with a 2.38 ERA. He registered 108 strikeouts in 90.2 innings while holding opponents to a .193 batting avg. He tied for the team-lead in RBI (57) and tied the single-season record for base on balls (54). Doolittle came within one win on the mound of tying the single season school record in wins. Doolittle hit .324 with 70 hits, 15 doubles, one triple and four home runs after playing in all 62 games for the Cavaliers.

Doolittle was named the 2006 Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year and a first team All-ACC selection as a starting pitcher. He has been named a second team All-American by Louisville Slugger, the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association and Baseball America as a utility player. He also was named to the College Baseball Foundation's All-America team. Doolittle was also selected SEBaseball.com's ACC Player of the Year and a first team All-ACC selection by SEBaseball.com.

Thompson was named second team All-Atlantic Coast Conference. He posted a 10-4 record with a 2.60 ERA in 16 starts. He fanned 77 batters in 100 1/3 innings. He became one of only four Cavaliers all-time to win 10 games in a season. The 16 starts tied for the single-season record while he became only the eighth Cavalier to throw 100 innings in a single season. He was named a first- team Freshman All-American by Baseball America and was named to the Louisville Slugger Freshmen All-America team.

Virginia won a school record 47 games in 2006 and a school record 21 conference games. Both helped UVa to a third place finish in the ACC.

Players for 23 NCAA Division 1 conferences are on the list, including 10 players each from the Atlantic Coastand Southeastern conferences. Twelve schools have two players listed: Alabama, Arkansas, Army, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Pepperdine, Rice, TCU, Texas, Tulane, UC-Irvine and Wichita State. Previous winners of the Roger Clemens Award were Jered Weaver of Long Beach State (2004), Luke Hochevar of Tennessee (2005) and Andrew Miller of North Carolina (2006). The finalists for the 2007 Roger Clemens Award will be selected in voting by a national panel that includes: all Division 1 head baseball coaches, a selection of national media who cover collegiate baseball, the 16 winners of the R. E. "Bob" Smith Award, which was presented to the top player in the country in Houston in 1988-2003.

In addition, the 10 previous finalists for the Clemens Award are also issued ballots. The 2007 award will be presented at a gala dinner next July. The Roger Clemens Award was named after future Hall of Famer Roger Clemens, who began his march to stardom while leading the University of Texas to the College World Series title in 1983. As a major leaguer, Clemens has won 348 games (eighth best in history), fanned more than 4,600 hitters and won seven Cy Young Awards, emblematic as the top pitcher in his league. The Roger Clemens Award is the only award of its kind, honoring the finest pitchers in college baseball.